China Reportedly Aiming to Limit How Often People Play Games

The country cites concerns over childhood myopia.

Allegedly due to concerns of child near-sightedness, it appears China is looking to limit how long and how often some of its citizens can play video games.

As reported by Bloomberg, the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China issued a notice late last month that aims to reduce child myopia (near-sightedness) partially by reducing how long minors can play games online. This may be done by controlling the total length of online gaming sessions using age prompt systems, or simply with parental supervision.

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China believes that taking steps to limit time in front of screens can reduce myopia rates in children by 0.5 percent each year until 2023. This push against myopia development via regulation is extending to their finance ministry and sports authorities as well. The notice suggests that non-educational electronics shouldn’t be used by children for longer than 15 minutes at a time, or an hour daily. For electronic learning tools, they suggest 30-40 minute sessions with 10 minute resting breaks.

The country has had a major freeze on video game title approvals since March, as China is cracking down on which games can or cannot be made available to its citizens. Their already stringent game approval process was reportedly halted due to a restructuring of ministry responsibilities. It’s unclear if the freezing will let up once restructuring is complete, though China may be gearing up to limit video game use in the long haul.Two of the biggest game companies in China are Tencent and NetEase, and the stock value for both companies has dropped by over 5 percent. In the past, China has cited concerns over video game addiction for restricting game access, specifically singling out Tencent’s game Honour of Kings.